Call for Expressions of Interest: AHRC CDP Awards

About AHRC CDP Awards

In addition to supervision by their Higher Education Institute (HEI), successful candidates will be jointly supervised by relevant subject specialists at the Museum of the Home. 

Proposals for new studentships are made jointly by a member of Museum of the Home staff and a member of academic staff at a UK HEI (and, in some cases, a named student in collaboration with a full supervisory team). 

We encourage CDP applications that critically engage with the Museum of the Home’s unique collections and displays and align with the CSH’s aim to deepen and diversify understandings of home for academic and public audiences. 

The Museum of the Home is constantly seeking to adapt and improve to better represent our diverse audiences, and to expand our understanding of home. We invite applications which will challenge current ideas of home and how stories of home can be collected, catalogued, displayed, experienced and evaluated.  

The CDP research students will be embedded at Museum of the Home and within the collaborative research community at CSH and will benefit from specialist training (including on employability) and cohort development provided by both. Engagement and impact will be core to their research through the opportunity to shape the re-design of the period rooms and associated programming.  

Key dates

The selection process has three stages:  

1. The first stage is a call for an initial expression of interest (EOI) from UK university supervisors. Applicants should discuss their proposals with the Museum of the Home research team by contacting research@museumofthehome.org.uk. The deadline for EOIs is 3 October 2025. 
2. EOIs will be reviewed and shortlisted internally at the Museum. Supervisors who have submitted successful EOIs will be asked to submit a full proposal. The deadline for proposals is 21 November 2025. 
3. Proposals will be assessed by a panel comprising of Museum of the Home and Centre for Studies of Home staff, as well as external members from other CDP award-holding organisations. This panel will select the three successful projects and will be convened by January 2026.
   

Project proposals

Proposed projects must demonstrate academic originality, be appropriate for collaborative study at doctoral level, and fall within AHRC subject remit. While applications on a wide range of topics are welcomed, proposals will also be assessed in relation to their likely contribution to the Museum of the Home’s CDP strategic research priorities: 

• Sensory, spatial, and political dimensions of home – building on the Museum’s exploration of these themes in modern contexts; unearthing stories of identity and diasporic home-making; health and care; the impact of the environment on homes and domestic life 

• Diverse dwellings and ways of living – drawing on the Museum’s expanded definitions and explorations of home to examine the connections between home and city; private and shared space, different types of dwelling e.g. prisons, temporary accommodation, experiences of homelessness  

• Democratising home on display – expanding upon the Museum’s innovative implementation of co-creative practices; engaging in practice-based research based in the Museum and partner organisations; and examining museological approaches to domestic stories and display